The Affinities

The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson, 300 pages

“In our rapidly-changing world of "social media", everyday people are more and more able to sort themselves into social groups based on finer and finer criteria. In the near future of Robert Charles Wilson's The Affinities, this process is supercharged by new analytic technologies--genetic, brain-mapping, behavioral. To join one of the twenty-two Affinities is to change one's life. It's like family, and more than family. Your fellow members aren't just like you, and they aren't just people who are likely to like you. They're also the people with whom you can best cooperate in all areas of life--creative, interpersonal, even financial.  At loose ends both professional and personal, young Adam Fisk takes the suite of tests to see if he qualifies for any of the Affinities, and finds that he's a match for one of the largest, the one called Tau. It's utopian--at first. Problems in all areas of his life begin to simply sort themselves out, as he becomes part of a global network of people dedicated to helping one another--to helping him.  But as the differing Affinities put their new powers to the test, they begin to rapidly chip away at the power of governments, of global corporations, of all the institutions of the old world. Then, with dreadful inevitability, the different Affinities begin to go to war--with one another.  What happens next will change Adam, and his world, forever.”  Once I started this book I didn’t want to put it down.  The story is really compelling and it’s told very well.  I have to admit, I didn’t see the end coming, which only made it better for me.  I would highly recommend this to people who like a dystopian type of story.

The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf

The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper, 336 pages

Maggie is the alpha werewolf of her pack.  She knows that she needs to mate with another werewolf because their lines are dying out.  When a handsome human stranger shows up asking questions about werewolves Maggie knows that she should run him out of town but Nick is funny and charming and Maggie finds herself falling for him, in spite of herself.  Determined to push Nick away, Maggie finds herself with other problems too.  Someone seems to be trying to kill her and possibly other members of the pack.  Until she can figure out who it is, and eliminate the threat, the whole pack is in danger.  The second book in the series is funny and sweet.  Fans of paranormal romances will enjoy this series.

Cross Justice

Cross Justice by James Patterson, 420 pages

“The toughest cases hit closest to home. Alex Cross left his hometown, and some awful family tragedies, for a better life with Nana Mama in Washington, DC. He hasn't looked back. Now his cousin Stefan has been accused of a horrible, unthinkable murder, and Cross drives south with Bree, Nana Mama, Jannie, and Ali to Starksville, North Carolina, for the first time in thirty-five years. Back home, he discovers a once proud community down on its luck, and local residents who don't welcome him with open arms. As Cross steps into his family home, the horrors of his childhood flood back--and he learns that they're not really over. He brings all his skill to finding out the truth about his cousin's case. But truth is hard to come by in a town where no one feels safe to speak. Chasing his ghosts takes Cross all the way down to the sugarcane fields of Florida, where he gets pulled into a case that has local cops needing his kind of expertise: a string of socialite murders with ever more grisly settings. He's chasing too many loose ends--a brutal killer, the truth about his own past, and justice for his cousin--and any one of the answers might be fatal. In Cross Justice , Alex Cross confronts the deadliest--and most personal--case of his career. It's a propulsive, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that proves you can go home again--but it just might kill you.”  I liked this as well as I’ve liked any of this series.  I thought it was a pretty solid thriller mystery that all Patterson fans will enjoy.

Take Me There

Take Me There by Susane Colasanti, 290 pages

Told alternately between three friends; Rhiannon, Nicole, and James, we follow their lives from Rhiannon’s devastating breakup with her boyfriend and its aftermath.  We get a little slice-of-life reality teen romance story.  This book was all right but I didn’t think it was her best story or that it was as well written as others I’ve read by her.  Teens who have liked her other books will probably like it but it wouldn’t be my first choice for a teen looking for this type of book.

The Cemetery Boys

The Cemetery Boys by Heather Brewer, 273 pages

"When Stephen's dad says they're moving, Stephen knows it's pointless to argue. They're broke from paying Mom's hospital bills, and now the only option left is to live with Stephen's grandmother in Spencer, a backward small town that's like something out of The Twilight Zone. Population: 814.  Stephen's summer starts looking up when he meets punk girl Cara and her charismatic twin brother, Devon. With Cara, he feels safe and understood--and yeah, okay, she's totally hot. In Devon and his group, he sees a chance at making real friends. Only, as the summer presses on, and harmless nights hanging out in the cemetery take a darker turn, Stephen starts to suspect that Devon is less a friend than a leader. And he might be leading them to a very sinister end. . . ."  I haven't liked all of Brewer's books.  I actually really dislike the Vladimir Tod series, although I understand why the teens like it.  However, I really liked this book. It was a great horror book for teens and I definitely plan to read Brewer's works going forward.

Fool’s Fate

Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb, 631 pages

“The acclaimed Tawny Man trilogy from the heralded writer of epic fantasy comes to its thrilling conclusion as the fate of FitzChivalry Farseer is finally revealed.”  I think that these books just got better and better, actually.  I highly recommend this series, and all of her books, really, to anyone who likes fantasy.

Saint Odd

Saint Odd by Dean Koontz, 338 pages

“Odd Thomas is back where it all started . . . because the time has come to finish it. Since he left his simple life in the small town of Pico Mundo, California, his journey has taken him to places strange and wonderful, mysterious and terrifying. Across the land, in the company of mortals and spirits alike, he has known kindness and cruelty, felt love and loss, saved lives and taken them--as he's borne witness to humanity's greatest good and darkest evil.; Again and again, he has gone where he must and done what he had to do--for better or worse--with his courage and devotion sorely tested, and his soul forever changed. Every triumph has been hard won. Each sacrifice has taken its toll.  Now, whatever destiny drives him has finally steered his steps home, where those he cares for most surround him, the memory of his tragically lost true love haunts him, and one last challenge--vast and dreadful--awaits him. For Odd Thomas, born to serve a purpose far greater than himself, the wandering is done. Only the reckoning remains.”  The finale to the series was extremely satisfying.  I really liked the whole series and I feel like it wrapped up really well.

Resurrection Science

Resurrection Science by M. R. O’Connor, 272 pages

Despite my usual love of fiction, I do occasionally read something else. Often times, due to lack of interest on my part, it never gets blogged about. But Resurrection Science tickled my science fancy enough to make it noteworthy.

Resurrection Science talks about the various methods and efforts of scientist and researchers around the globe who are trying to slow, if not stop the extinction of various animals. Each chapter is arranged as its own essay on a topic. The species that are focused on range from tiny toads to rhinos, from extinct birds to Neanderthals.  Despite his obvious viewpoint, O’Connor takes the time to explain why some little toad in the backwaters of Africa is worth the thousands to millions of dollars it could take to save it. And though he did not fully convince me that every animal in the world is worth saving, he did make a fairly convincing case.

I would only recommend this book to people that like some hard science. O’Connor is heavy on the Latin and some of the real science that goes along with the conservation and preservation of endangered or extinct species. There are no sugar coatings, so do not read this book looking for happy endings or eternal optimism.

Only Pirate at the Party

Only Pirate at the Party by Lindsey Stirling, 258 pages

I don’t remember when or how I stumbled across Lindsey and her music on YouTube, but I am glad I did. I found her unique style and energy, and of course her music to be uplifting and yet somehow still soothing. It wasn’t long before I became a follower of hers, and I must admit recruited others to her music as well. Since then I have watched all her videos and while I was interested in how she got started and more about her life, I never sought it out.

It was by sheer chance, while browsing a book catalog, I noticed that she had this book. Luckily someone else had already ordered so I placed the only copy to be had on request and eagerly waited. Something about the title “Only Pirate at the Party” seemed to fit not only my impression of her, but also how I feel from time to time.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It has the same energy that you feel in her music. Even though it is an autobiography and has some dark events, it is still a very light read. Everyone that enjoys her music should take the time to read this book. It will only make you realize what kind of person Lindsey is, and help you to enjoy her music that much more.

Kate Daniels series continued

Magic Rises, Magic Breaks, and Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews, 1078 pages, three books

I find writing about books late in a series, or towards the end to be quite difficult. How much can I say about characters and not give early stuff away? If two characters are falling in love the first four books and get finally married, can I say that? Should I operate under the assumption of anyone reading the reviews for these books have read the previous books as well? So many conflicting thoughts.

In the past I have resorted to extremely vague, but hopefully entertaining posts to hopefully encourage a reader to continue through a series, yet not ruin anything for those just beginning their journey. And as you might have guessed by now, this post will continue that tradition.

If you were to break down the Kate Daniels series into a set of subplots, you would have action, romance, supernatural, lurking doom, and magic. As you might have guessed, all of these are slowly ramping up as the series heads for its climatic finish. There is more action as it takes larger and deadlier things to scare or even challenge the combination that is Kate and Curran. Especially as Kate learns how to control her father’s blood magic. The supernatural and lurking doom elements have shot through the roof especially with the reappearance of Roland. And finally the romance, which has thankfully stayed about the same. I am not sure I be able to like this series if we hit Sherrilyn Kenyon levels of romance.

All of this makes for a great addition to an already great series. I would certainly recommend this series to anyone who likes supernatural dystopian fiction, but wants to pass on heavy handed romance. Similar reading would include Patricia Briggs Alpha and Omega novels or her Mercedes Thompson series,  

Common Values

Common Values by Sissela Bok, 127 pages

Sissela Bok understands the natural skepticism which any attempt to define universal human values encounters in postmodern culture.  Still, in this short book, based on lectures delivered at the University of Missouri - Columbia in 1994, she maintains that such attempts are necessary, since the global nature of current crises demand engagement across multiple cultures.  Her solution is to limit the definition to a strictly minimalist ethics, including only the basic components indispensable for societal cohesion and therefore universal - rejection of violence, theft, and dishonesty.  While she admits that these elements are not sufficient for any culture, she maintains that they can serve as a basis for agreement between cultures, common ground on which to build solutions to problems of war, poverty, and the environment.

The Weight of Blood

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh.  302 pages.

A small town that's suspicious of outsiders. Two disappearances, a generation apart.  Family secrets. These are all the elements that combine with compelling characters to make a great literary suspense novel.  We have the Dane family, who have lived in the Ozark Mountain town of Henbane for generations.  However, 16 year-old Lucy Dane is still treated like an outsider and people still talk about her mother, who up and disappeared years ago.  When one of Lucy's few friends is found murdered, Lucy feels that she has to get to the bottom of both disappearances.  However, when she starts making discoveries about her friend, and then about her mother, she starts to learn disturbing truths about the people around her.

I enjoyed this book, although I felt like could predict some of what was going to happen.  However, curiosity and investment in the characters kept me reading.  The author has a descriptive writing style that clearly paints the setting and makes you feel like you're there with the characters.  There is a feeling of dread that permeates the entire book, so even though you want Lucy to discover the truth, you're afraid of what she's going to learn.  I also worried for her; while some of the people in the town seem like they like her, I wondered if they would harm her to protect their secrets.

This is the author's debut novel, and I'll be curious to see what she writes next.

Shanghai Redemption

Shanghai Redemption by Qiu Xiaolong.  320 pages.

For many years, Chen Cao has managed to balance the interests of the Communist Party in China and the promises made by his job.  Both the deputy party secretary of the bureau and Chief Inspector of Special Investigations of the Shanghai Police Department, he was a rising star in the Party.  However, he has investigated one too many controversial cases and now finds himself stripped of his job duties (although under the guise of a new promotion and title).  As if this isn't enough, it now seems that someone is trying to set him up for public disgrace.

This is the ninth Inspector Chen Cao mystery, and the first one I have read. In this case, Chen Cao is technically in charge of a corruption case of a "Red Prince," who has connections and power that deflect Chen Cao's attempts to bring him to justice.  While set in today's China, there are elements from China's past that keep surfacing, which have dangerous overtones.  For example, "Red" songs from the time of the Cultural Revolution are becoming popular again.

While I wasn't familiar with this series, or the main character, I found the story pretty easy to follow.  It is steeped in Chinese history and tradition, and I found myself remembering what I have read and learned about the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. I think that if you have familiarity with this period in China's history, what drove both of these events, and what happened during and after them, you may feel more connected to the story.  However, if you know nothing about Chinese history, I think the story will still be interesting.  The author does a nice job of weaving together many elements and steadily increasing the pace of the story, while underscoring the feeling of unease and danger that Chen Cao is facing.  I'm tempted now to go back and try the first one in the series and see how I like it.

Jam on the Vine

Jam on the Vine by LaShonda Katrice Barnett.  336 pages

This story focuses on Ivoe Williams, a young black women who lives in Little Tunis, a poor, segregated town in central-east Texas.  Driven by her love of reading and the power of the written word, Ivoe earns a scholarship to a prestigious college in Austin.  However, when she returns home, she finds there are no opportunities for her, other than menial labor.  Undeterred, she continues seeking newspaper work, eventually moving with her family and settling in Kansas City.  With her former teacher and lover, she founds the first female-run African-American newspaper.  In the Midwest, in 1919, this is dangerous, but Ivoe risks her own freedom to call attention to the atrocities of what is happening in her own neighborhood and in the American prison system.

I enjoyed this book, although I sometimes found that I got a little confused when it would slip a bit in time, or abruptly change viewpoints.  The book moves between 1897 and 1925, and while you mostly have Ivoe's story, you also have her mother's story.  The interwoven stories of characters make this a rich book, that feels like a slice of history has been invigorated and brought to life.

Homo Sovieticus

Homo Sovieticus by Alexander Zinoviev, translated by Charles Janson, 206 pages

Homo Sovieticus is an unconventional novel - there is no plot, and the characters are caricatures with names like "Enthusiast" and "Writer".  The book is divided into small - half a page to two page long - anecdotes in which the narrator, a cynical Soviet emigre who describes himself as an Agent of the Soviet State, reflects on the life of an ASS in the Soviet Union and the life of an ASS in the West.

Zinoviev's perspective, driven home in one cynical, self-important vignette after another, is that something resembling the dialectic of Marxism is at work in history, but rather than a force for liberation, it is an idiot god fumbling about with human lives.  The individual is insignificant, rather, it is the masses that decide things, and the masses are venal, blind, and cruel.  The only meaningful difference between East and West is that in the USSR a desire to be free of the masses makes one an individual, while in the West such a desire only buries one deeper within the mass.

Being a Captain is Hard Work: A Captain No Beard Story

Being a Captain is Hard Work: A Captain No Beard Story by Carole P. Roman, Illustrated by Bonnie LeMaire   60 pages

In this 10^th episode of the series, Captain No Beard is in a hurry to get to Dew Rite Volcano. He’s in such a hurry that he doesn’t listen to his crew.

Mongo warns the captain about the dark clouds on the horizon.

Zach is trying to raise the flag, but the wind is getting stronger. He’s not sure the flag should be hoisted in such bad weather.

Polly is sent to the galley to make but squawks about the impending storm.

The rest of the crew is hard at work, too.

But Captain No Beard doesn’t care. He doesn’t listen to his crew. And before long, the storm Mongo first warned about is tossed the Flying Dragon around like autumn leaves. There is almost a fire in the galley and he almost loses Zach.

The illustrations are gorgeous. I love the Cloud Key, which identified the various clouds. Who knew there 10 types of clouds? I found only one problem: lack of diversity. Oh yes there were animals and people, but Roman missed a teachable opportunity. The lack of color made the teamwork the crew demonstrated and the lesson the captain learned weak and constricting. That’s why I gave Being a Captain is Hard Work 4 out of 5 stars.

The Cardinal's Sin

The Cardinal’s Sin by Robert Lane             332 pages

The Cardinal’s Sin is the third book in the Jake Travis series. I have not read the other two, and except for two sentences that seemed to reference one of the other books, I didn’t need to as this is a perfect stand-alone.

Jake and his girlfriend, Kathleen, are wrapping up a four-week  European vacation. The last city they visit is London before they head home to Florida. Jake would like nothing more than to lose himself in Kathleen, but his duties as a Special Ops assassin call. It’s an easy hit: a Cardinal out for him morning stroll in Kensington Gardens. Jake carries out his duties and is back in their hotel room before Kathleen awakens. As the Cardinal lay dying, his last sentence is “Forgive me my sin.” Jake found this odd. Shouldn’t it have been “forgive me my sins.” Plural, not singular. Jake frets about this as he and Kathleen head home.

But…and readers know there has to be a but…Jake learns that he has killed the wrong man. He didn’t kill a bad guy dressed as a Cardinal, but he killed a real Roman Catholic Cardinal. Oh brother.

Back home in Tampa Bay, Jake teams up with his partner, Garrett Demarcus, and a guy named Morgan, that I’m not really sure who he is, other than Jake’s neighbor.

As the three try to figure out what happened to the real target, Alexander Partetsky, the regular formula for PI novels unfolds. I did especially enjoy the sprinkling of literary references.

The Cardinal’s Sin is a good read. I think Jake would make an excellent TV character (Imagine Travis, PI).  It fits well into the genre, but it’s not a great read. And for that reason, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Don't You Cry

Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica.   320 pages.

Ok, I've been waiting for this one since I read a review of it weeks ago.  I've enjoyed Mary Kubica's other suspense novels (The Good Girl, Pretty Baby), and this one sounded like a winner.

There are two storylines here, which eventually intersect.   We have Quinn Collins, who lives in Chicago, and whose roommate, Esther Vaughan, has disappeared.  A strange letter addressed to "My Dearest" is found among her possessions, but Quinn has no idea who this could be . . . or if Esther is really who she thought she was.   At the same time, in a small Michigan town about an hour from Chicago, 18 year-old Alex Gallo is intrigued by the mysterious girl who has starting coming to the coffee shop where he works.  However, what starts out as an innocent crush soon spirals into something much darker than he expected.

So, just who is Esther?  Is she the person Quinn has been living with, or a complete stranger who may have killed her previous roommate?  And just who is the girl that Alex is intrigued by?  Mary Kubica weaves together these two storylines into a dark web where you start to see connections between people and events, but still aren't sure of what may be happening.   This is the kind of story where you're pretty sure you know what's going to happen, and then something takes a turn and you realize you're not sure at all.  Kubica's characters all have flaws and secrets, and for me, this makes for a compelling story.  Combined with a steadily increasing pace and underlying sense of unease, this makes for my kind of read.

The English Way

The English Way: Studies in English Sanctity from St Bede to Newman, edited by Maisie Ward, 328 pages

The English Way collects short biographical essays about English Catholics from St Bede and Alfred the Great to Bishop Challoner and Bl John Henry Newman, written by some of the finest English Catholic writers 1933 had to offer, including GK Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Christopher Dawson, and Fr Bede Jarrett.  The whole is meant to sketch an "English way" of sanctity.

The collection has all the diversity and unevenness to be expected of a compilation of biographies by different authors, many of them originally appearing elsewhere.  Fr Jarrett's reflection on St Aelred of Rievaulx takes the form of an exploration of the nature and importance of friendship as it is found in the life of the author of Spiritual Friendship, while Belloc's contribution uses the life of St Thomas Becket to launch a cannonade against error, and Dawson devotes most of his piece on William Langland to a detailed critical study of Piers Plowman.  Perhaps the unexpected highlight is E I Watkin's impassioned defence of Baroque art in his celebration of the life and poetry of Richard Crashaw.  Still, the individual pieces, however worthy by themselves, never do coalesce to form a greater whole.

The Maid's Version

The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell.   164 pages.

This book focuses on Alma Dunahew, the mother of three boys who works as a maid for a prominent family in West Table, Missouri.  In 1929, her beloved younger sister is one of the 42 people killed in an explosion at the local dance hall.   Who is to blame?  Alma thinks she knows, but her pursuit of justice makes her an outcast in the town and causes a rift with her own son.  However, by telling her story to her grandson, she finally gains some peace.

This is an introspective book where it's easy to get pulled in to the story, feeling like you are a witness to what is happening. Woodrell's prose is simple, but evocative and emotional.  While this is Alma's story, it's more about the community who is facing the unexplained loss of so many people, and the suspicions and doubts that linger long after the event.

Until I looked for more information about this book, I didn't realize that there was a community disaster in West Plains, Missouri in 1928.  Woodrell changed some of the details, but there was an explosion at a dance hall which killed 39 people.  Lawyer's review on Goodreads includes a link to news stories about the actual event.

Hop Alley

Hop Alley by Scott Phillips.   192 pages

This book is a follow-up to Cottonwood (2004) which featured a Kansas town in 1872 and saloon owner and photographer Bill Ogden.  Eventually, Bill turns up in San Francisco in 1980, but it's not clear what he's been doing in the interim.   Hop Alley answers those questions, and gives us Bill Ogden, now living as Bill Sadlaw, in the frontier town of Denver in 1878.  He's now running a photo studio near the Chinese part of town knows as Hop Alley, and carrying on an affair with Priscilla, a singer addicted to laudanum.  However, Bill's life isn't easy; he has to face the murder of his housekeeper's brother-in-law, Priscilla's increasing instability, and the riot that is simmering in Hop Alley.

Admittedly, I would not have picked this book up if it hadn't been part of a project I'm working on right now.   I don't usually read westerns (Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is the exception).  The fact that this is a western written by an author who is known for his noir writing does make it more interesting.  However, I never warmed up to Bill, or really cared about him too much.  The fact that he has a lively sex life (not romantic life; there is a distinction) didn't really add much to the story for me.   What I found more interesting was that he is a photographer, and I would have liked a bit more about that in the story.

I'm not sure what kind of reader I'd suggest this book to.  It's not noir, but I don't know if it has enough appeal to readers who really enjoy westerns.  My suggestion, if this sounds like an interesting story to you, would be to read about it on Goodreads and see if it sounds like your kind of book.

Can Poetry Matter?

Can Poetry Matter?  Essays on Poetry and American Culture by Dana Gioia, 257 pages

Decades ago, Dana Gioia educates us, poetry was a popular art.  Today, despite a wealth of venues and publications devoted to poetry, that is not the case.  More new poetry is being written than at perhaps any time in history, but little of it is being read, and that which is read is read primarily by other poets and academics, two categories with considerable overlap.  Once the queen of the literary genres, poetry has become confined to a subcultural ghetto, and one significantly smaller than those of science fiction or romance.  This is a double loss - for just as poetry is impoverished by its isolation, so too society loses what only poetry can provide.

The most convincing answer Gioia gives to the title question (though not, perhaps, the best) is his own evident love of poetry - not a stale appreciation but a true passion which inspires the reader to immediately seek out Jeffers or Kees or Kooser or any of the other unjustly obscure poets he celebrates.

Truly, Madly, Guilty

Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty.  432 pages.  Due out July, 2016 (is on order for the library)

"Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It’s just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong?"   Or, as you're asking yourself through most of this book, "Just what happened at the barbecue?"

True to her usual writing style, Liane Moriarty's newest story mercilessly explores three seemingly happy families and shows us how guilt can expose the fault lines in even the strongest-seeming relationships.    We have three couples:  Sam and Clementine, who seem to have a busy, yet lovely, life; Erika and Oliver, who seem to be a bit odd, but completely tuned in to each other; and Tiffany and Vid, who have larger than life personalities, but who also seem happy.  However, two months after a barbecue hosted by one of the couples, something is still quite wrong.  Clementine and Sam keep asking themselves, "What if we hadn't gone?"   And you're wondering, almost the entire way through this story, what awful thing (or things) happened at the barbecue.

I have enjoyed many of Moriarty's stories, especially Big Little Lies, so I had eagerly started on this book as soon I picked up a copy at BEA last week.   I wasn't disappointed; this had all of the great writing and razor-sharp insights, and humor, that I had enjoyed in Big Little Lies.

I did feel like the end spun out a bit slowly, where it felt like: "there's an ending. . . but no, this is the ending . . . no, more story, but now it's the ending."  However, this is a very readable story, with interesting characters, and a nice, steady pace.  I did find myself laughing a few times, most memorably, on the train, where Tiffany is making comments on the size of Oliver's head.  "There was nothing to be done about his pea-head, but Tiffany should tell Erika to buy Oliver some of those vintage, black-rimmed glasses..."  Yes, I let out a snort at that one. 

Moriarty does a nice job of reeling you in, making you care about the characters (or at a minimum, be curious enough them to keep reading).  And, by keeping you in the dark about what awful thing has transpired between these people, you get to see the effects of whatever it was played out over a span of time.   This is no "bad thing happens, people react, and go on with their lives" kind of story; this is a "something happened, people are trying to figure out how to react, and how to keep going like they used to, but somehow, things are stuck."  It's realistic that way, and compelling.

The Fireman

The Fireman by Joe Hill.  768 pages.

When the plague begins to spread, it spreads quickly.  The doctors call it  Draco Incendia Trychophyton. However, everyone else just calls it Dragonscale. Spread by spore, it marks its hosts with beautiful, tattoo-like black and gold marks across their bodies . . . before causing them to burst into flames.  There is no antidote, and millions are infected.

Harper Grayson, a dedicated nurse and fan of Mary Poppins, treats hundreds of infected patients before her hospital burns to the ground and she discovers she's infected with Dragonscale. She also discovers she's pregnant, much to her husband Jakob's dismay.  Against his wishes, she is determined to live, at least long enough to deliver her child, who should be born healthy.  This is too much for Jakob, who leaves Harper to fend for herself.  However, she discovers she isn't alone.  A mysterious man that Harper met at the hospital, a man who wears a dirty yellow fire fighter's jacket and carries a hooked iron bar, seems to be keeping an eye on her.  Known as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, and seems to be able to control the fire within himself, using it as a way to protect the infected who are being hunted, and as a weapon.

I devoured this book.  Seriously, I sat on my porch and just read, gulping down page after page.  I found this story to be intensely readable; the story is compelling, the characters are interesting, and I wasn't always sure what was going to happen next.   Hill weaves together these elements, along with the plague that is constantly lurking in the background.  There is no cure for Dragonscale, but can it truly be mastered?   There's horror in this story, to be sure, but there's also a lot of bravery, and moments where characters find strength within themselves to stand up for what they feel is right.  I liked that Hill made this plague sound realistic, and how it spreads and the disastrous effects that it has. The pace is steady, but unrelenting, and you never quite feel like the main characters are completely safe.  Like real life, though, it's also not always completely awful; there are moments of wry humor.   For example, here's this bit of dialogue:

"Do you think Keith Richards is still alive?" he asked.
"Sure. Nothing can kill him. He'll outlast us all."

I did have a few problems while I was reading this book:
1) I actually did need to go to work, and couldn't just sit at home reading this book.
2) The book finished.   Yes, there's a nice little coda, tucked back into the credits, which helps . . . but the book still ends.   Which means I now have to wait for Hill's next book.

Reasonable Pleasures

Reasonable Pleasures: The Strange Coherences of Catholicism by James V Schall, SJ, 200 pages

In this book, Fr Schall celebrates the reasonable pleasure found when seemingly unconnected ideas are found to complement each other, revealing more of the world.  Reasonable Pleasures explores the happy coherence between politics and heaven, justice and immortality, sports and liturgy, wit and virtue.

Each chapter begins with a set of quotations from sources ranging from Plato and Aquinas to Chesterton and Schulz, with the remainder of the chapter explicating those quotations, expanding on their meaning and showing how they intersect.  Like most of Schall's writing (including The Classical Moment), Reasonable Pleasures is not an exciting book.  It is not a manifesto or a jeremiad, a call to battle or one side of a shouting match.  It is a quiet talk with a wise elder willing to give the gift of wide learning, deep thought, and long experience.

It Takes One

It Takes One by Kate Kessler.  416 pages.

This is the first book in a new thriller series about a criminal psychologist, Audrey Harte, who uses her own dark past to help catch dangerous killers.   In this book, she is returning home to the small town where she grew up, after seven years away.  Not everyone is happy to see her; when she and her best friend Maggie were thirteen, they killed Maggie's abusive father.  Audrey has left her past behind, but when she is confronted by a drunk Maggie on her first night back, it's not a good start. And things don't get better when Maggie turns up dead.  With some people looking to blame Audrey, she has to find the killer, putting herself in the path of danger.

Audrey is a flawed character, which makes her interesting (and easy to relate to).  She's got an alcoholic father, unresolved issues with her ex-boyfriend, and unresolved issues with her home town. She's also got a quick temper.  She's mostly nice, but she doesn't let anyone push her around.  She knows her past is dark, but she owns up to it, which I liked.   The book is pretty dark, and the pace is even, which makes it a compelling thriller.   The way it's written, it's hard to know if you can trust any of the characters (other than Audrey), and there are some twists and turns.   I felt it was a good pageturner, and am interested to see where the author takes Audrey in the next book.

Clash of Civilizations

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order by Samuel P Huntington, 321 pages

First published in 1993 and generally considered a response to Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man published the year before, in The Clash of Civilizations author Huntington argues that Modernization and Westernization represent two distinct concepts, and that while much of the world pursues the former, the latter is becoming less and less attractive.  Long papered over by Western dominance and the ideological conflicts of the twentieth century, the end of the Cold War and the decline of the relative power of the West have again revealed the deep divisions between different ways of life, themselves slowly developed over the course of centuries and more enduring than nation-states.  The result is that, contrary to widely held expectations, the world is not converging into a universal, fundamentally Western culture, but rather coalescing into cultural blocs with different - sometimes radically different - values, with all the possibilities for conflict that follow.

It is certainly possible - and entertaining - to quibble over Huntington's divisions.  Why is South Korea included in the Sinic sphere while Japan gets its own classification?  If Latin America is considered separately from the West due to its somewhat divergent history, shouldn't the Iberian states be as well?  And if them, then why not France and Italy as equally "Latin" cultures?  What does that mean for the concept of "the West"?  Should the Anglosphere be considered as its own "civilization"?  Is there really such a thing as an "African civilization" embracing everything from Ethiopia to Nigeria to South Africa?  Such arguments are beside the point except to the extent that they are the point - such arguments as whether the Ukraine is "Orthodox" or "Western" or whether Tibet is "Sinic" or "Buddhist" or whether the UK is a part of "Europe" are even now being debated on streets, in parliaments, and on battlefields around the world.

By Light We Knew Our Names

By Light We Knew Our Names by Anne Valente.  200 pages.

This is a book of short stories that I don't think I would have known about if it weren't part of a reading project that I'm currently involved with.  Partly because it was published in 2014, and mostly because I don't usually pick up collections of stories.  I have nothing against collections of short stories; it's just that I tend to pick up single fiction or nonfiction books.  Although, I have reconsidered that statement, since I really enjoyed Helen Ellis' book of stories recently.  And Neil Gaiman's.  And ...

Anyway, this book of stories is quite varied.  There are realistic stories, and fantastical tales mixed in, but, as the Goodreads summary says, " this collection explores the thin border between magic and grief."  I would agree with that.  They all share the same beautiful, evocative writing, and I found that I really enjoyed going from one story to the next, not knowing what I would encounter.   Some of the stories are pretty hard-hitting, and quite emotional.  However, they are thoughtful and thought-provoking.  I felt like nothing was wasted here; every word felt chosen with care, and each story carefully crafted.   

This might be just the book for a reader who says they don't like short stories because even though it's a single author, there is a lot of variety in the stories.  And if you do enjoy short stories, you're in for a real treat.

Poems of Joseph Mary Plunkett

The Poems of Joseph Mary Plunkett by Joseph Mary Plunkett, 95 pages

Joseph Plunkett was a poet, a journalist, and an officer in the Irish Republican Brotherhood.  One of the ringleaders of the Easter Rising, he cemented his romantic legend by participating in the revolt despite a severe illness that left him almost entirely incapacitated.  Captured and convicted of treason, he married his fiancee in prison the day before his execution.  He was 28.

The Poems of Joseph Mary Plunkett is a collection of his published and unpublished poetry, with a biographical introduction by his sister and a closing essay by Plunkett himself on the subject of "Obscurity and Poetry".  This last is the best contribution to the book.  The poems are sadly undistinguished despite drawing upon a wealth of religious and mythological imagery, and often awkward in form.

Maestra

Maestra by L.S. Hilton.  309 pages.

Art. Thievery. Intrigue. Sex.

You'd think that would sum up a lot of stories, but this one felt completely fresh.  We have a main character, Judith Rashleigh, who is working in a reputable London auction house.  However, when she comes up against corruption when appraising an important art piece, her ambition to move up in that world is thwarted.  To make ends meet, she starts working a hostess in a West End bar (although what she does on her own time goes way beyond her work there).   When she takes one of her bar's client's up on his offer to take her to French Riviera, and her ill-advised attempt to slip him sedatives takes a nasty turn, she winds up running for her life.   However, she's able to hit the ground running, relying on her innate ability to fake it among the rich and famous.   Soon, she's on the inside track of the lucrative (and dangerous) business of art fraud.

Judith's encounters in the story take her all over the world, from the French Riviera to Paris, to Florence, and beyond.  The author is well-traveled, and this is clearly reflected in the story because all of the settings felt quite realistic.  The pacing is steady, but also steadily increasing, with a definite feel of danger that lurks beneath the surface of the story.  As a reader, you turn the pages, only to be shocked (perhaps not, though) at the next thing that happens (and wondering just when Judith's luck will run out).

Judith is an interesting character in that she seems pretty amoral.  And, this seems to deepen as the story continues and she commits acts that escalate how deeply in trouble she is.  However, she's unapologetic about most things.  For example, when one person asks her about why she goes to clubs for sex, she tells him she likes it.  She likes sex.  She's pretty confident in who she is, even as she is evolving throughout the story.  While I don't think this is someone I would want to know personally, she's a compelling and intriguing character to read about.  And, truly, how many characters in books would we really want to meet outside of the pages of their story?

This story is supposed to be the first installment in several novels, and I'm already eagerly anticipating the next book.   I will note that the reviews on Goodreads are quite mixed, which makes me believe that this is a polarizing book; either you like it, or you don't, and there isn't any in between.  Personally, I found it an entertaining read, which is usually all I'm asking from a story.  The advice I'd give a reader is: give this book about 30-40 pages.  If you don't like it by then, close it and return it to the library because it's probably not going to grow on you.

The Dollhouse

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis.  304 pages.  Due to be published in August, 2016 (I read an e-galley of this book).

Alternating between present-day and 1950’s New York City, this novel shows readers the world of the famed Barbizon Hotel for Women, where a generation of aspiring modern women lived side-by-side in the 1950’s.  Journalist Rose Lewin, in her beautiful apartment in the modern-day Barbizon, doesn’t have any idea of the rich history of the building or its residents.  However, when her personal life takes a swerve and she encounters some of her neighbors who were original residents of the Barbizon, she decides to learn more about them.  In the process, she starts to unravel a secret that has been smoldering since 1952.  Is her elderly neighbor Darby who she says she is?  Once Rose begins her investigation into the past, it becomes clear that there’s more to the story than she originally thought.

This is a story that clearly paints the world of 1950s New York City without skipping over some of the seamier details.  It would have been easy to have a story where all of the girls at the Barbizon were beautiful and happy, and New York City was a glitter-filled place.  However, the reality was that life wasn’t easy for these girls, and there was a seedier side to the city.  For example, jazz was intoxicating, but heroin was part of that reality.  I appreciated that the story was realistic, and it was easy to become pulled in to the book.  The characters are interesting and relatable (and at times, very frustrating), and combined with the steadily increasing pace, this was a pageturner that left me wanting to know more about 1950s New York City.  This is one of the appeals of well-written historical fiction, in that it leaves you wanting to learn more once you start reading.  

Beginning of Knowledge

The Beginning of Knowledge by Hans-Georg Gadamer, translated by Rod Coltman, 140 pages

Another adventure in hermeneutics in the same vein as The Beginning of Philosophy, in The Beginning of Knowledge Gadamer again connects the pre-Socratics to modern philosophy, especially Heraclitus to Hegel and Heidegger and Democritus to atomistic materialism.  In a series of lectures, Gadamer explores the intersection of logos and language and demonstrates again how the pre-Socratics used cosmogony to explore cosmology.  He holds out hope for an escape from exhausted scientism through a rediscovery of the distinction between the intelligible and the masterable.

The lectures, delivered to academics, are generally rather technical, though perhaps less so than those in The Beginning of Philosophy.  Some of Gadamer's philological arguments are incomprehensible without some knowledge of classical Greek.

A Fine Imitation

A Fine Imitation by Amber Bock    304 pages

One of the first things that captured my attention for A Fine Imitation is the cover. Whoever said you can’t judge a book by its cover was only half-wrong. The cover model invokes the novel’s main protagonist, Vera Longacre Bellington: glamorous, chic, period, and lonely.

Deep down, Vera has always been lonely. During her college years at Vassar College in 1913 and ten years later when she lives in New York City. I had the feeling that even as a child, an only child at that, that she was lonely. The novel alternates between 1913 and 1923.

Vera loves art and is studying it at Vassar. She befriends Bea Stillman from Atlanta. Bea is everything Vera is not. The two become fast friends as Bea pulls Vera into one adventure aft another. Only when the two get caught on one such adventure, Vera is pulled from the college (with only a semester until graduation) by her very formidable mother. Bea has secrets she is desperately trying to hide. Vera and Bea glimpse each other occasionally, but never speak or acknowledge each other’s presence.

Fast forward to 1923. Vera lives in the penthouse of the most luxurious apartment building in New York…and one that her husband, Arthur Bellington, built. Vera has everything money can buy: accept love. The couple is close with many of other wealthy couples living in the building.

I’m not sure really how it came to be, but the residents of the building decide they want a mural painted on the tiles in the basement’s Pool Room. A search is conducted, and soon Emil Hallern, a French painter, arrives. As an artist, he has several demands, like not allowing anyone in the room until the painting is complete.

Hallern never talks about himself, which leaves Vera suspicious. The harder she pushes the less he will disclose. Soon, the two are embroiled in a passionate affair, where secrets are revealed, secrets I never saw coming.

Bock’s debut novel, on the surface, reminds me of Melanie Benjamin’s latest title, The Swans of Fifth Avenue. It appears to be almost about nothing…about everyday life among the wealthy, but readers will find themselves knee-deep in human interactions and all that those involve. The title evokes the two parallel stories that run throughout the novel.

I received A Fine Imitation from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

I give A Fine Imitation 5 out of 5 stars.

Submission

Submission by Michel Houellebecq, translated by Lorin Stein, 246 pages

Submission is the story of Francois, a professor at the Sorbonne specializing in the work of JK Huysmans.  He is a comfortable hedonist, a man who likes good food and enjoys a succession of girlfriends primarily drawn from the ranks of his students.  He is somewhat aware that there should be more to life than mere enjoyment, with both his beloved Huysmans and his own aging flesh constantly reminding him, but any change would require commitment - a conversion - and that he cannot make.  At least, not until an Islamist victory in the French elections puts the choice in starker terms, and Francois discovers that far from being incompatible with his yearnings for material comfort and security, submission may in fact be the key to a safe domesticity that fulfills his strongest desires, as limited as they are.

Houellebecq's novel is ambiguous in an intriguing rather than a frustrating manner.  His near-future history is reasonably plausible, at least in its broad outlines.  His Frenchified Islam is vague in its tenets - none of the newly converted Muslims seem to have any reluctance to consume alcohol, nor is it clearly explained where all these now polygamous men are going to get their supply of willing wives.  Most of all, the author's own attitude towards his protagonist's thoughts and actions is unclear - Francois is not nearly as autobiographical a creation as Huysmans' Durtal.  The result is an engrossing portrait of postmodern life, open to multiple interpretations.

Fools, Frauds, and Firebrands

Fools, Frauds, and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left by Roger Scruton, 288 pages

Thinkers of the New Left began as a series of articles, collected into the book of that title in 1985.  The 2015 Fools, Frauds, and Firebrands is not just a thirtieth anniversary reissue, but also a substantial revision.  Its continuing value is attributable to the fact that its targets are not the political opponents of a day but the ideologues themselves - Galbraith, Sartre, Foucalt, Habermas, Lacan, Gramsci, Said, Badiou, Zizek.  Not that the book is placidly intellectual - the author describes it as "a provocation" and it is certainly provocative, but it is also thoughtful and well-reasoned. 

While Scruton develops an individual criticism for the thought of each of his subjects, certain themes recur.  Most of the thinkers accept some variation of Foucalt's "exposure" of society as nothing more than a power struggle between individuals and institutions of repression.  The "nonsense machine" of cant is employed in order to obfuscate reality and persuade others that capitalism and democracy, each predicated on individual freedom, are in actuality occult systems of domination and subjugation.  All human interaction is reduced to incommensurable power struggles between abstracts, whether abstract individuals (Sartre) or abstract classes (Lukacs).  These abstracts are, in turn, privileged above particular realities, so that the opinions and desires of actual workers can be ignored in favor of the interests of the working class, which can only be divined by the intelligentsia.  This completes a vicarious identification of comfortable intellectuals with the oppressed masses, wherein the worker ends up objectified, not by the market, but by the intellectual who makes of him a fetish.  Above all, the subjects refuse to meaningfully engage with opposing viewpoints, all arguments being rejected beforehand as badthink, excluded by the nonsense machine.  This, more than anything else, demonstrates them to be fundamentally unserious, because uninterested in intellectual work except insofar as it can serve as either an incitement to or a replacement for revolutionary activity.

The serial nature of the original articles shows in the chapters, which generally form self-contained units, but this is a strength rather than a weakness, since it allows Scruton to treat his subjects as individuals rather than as members of the opposition.  Scruton rarely stoops to comment on the personal lives of his subjects, even while he expresses genuine regret at instances where ideological conformity seems to have crippled philosophical development, notably in the cases of Sartre and Lukacs.  Above all, he insists on the particular and the real, on the inherent tension between the ideals of freedom and equality, since any real freedom inevitably produces inequality, and the corresponding importance of the mediating, conserving, mutually-reinforcing roles of civil society, institutional accountability, and the rule of law.

The City Baker's Guide to Country Living

The City Baker's Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller.  352 pages.  On sale in August, 2016 (I read an e-galley of this book)

Talented pastry chef Olivia Rawlings admittedly didn’t make the best decision in her love life, but it takes an accident with a flambéed dessert to force her into a major life change.  With nothing to lose, she flees to a small town in Vermont to be near her best friend and she takes a job at a small inn.   However, she soon discovers that even though the town is small, the world that she has known is about to get much bigger.

This book made me hungry, not only for apple pie that Olivia keeps baking (and describing), but it also made me want to live in the small town of Guthrie.  Louise Miller’s writing is descriptive enough to imagine Olivia in this setting, smell her pastries baking, and hear the music in the story.  I found I became quickly immersed in the story, and it was hard to close the book at night and leave Olivia.   Even though I found I could anticipate parts of the story, it didn’t keep it from being an enjoyable read (and there were a few surprises along the way).   I feel that Miller has captured the essence of a great character, and put her in a setting that could easily feel like home to many readers.

One of Us

One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway by Asne Seierstad, translated by Sarah Death, 524 pages

On July 22, 2011, a car bomb exploded in downtown Oslo, killing eight people.  It was only the beginning of the horror.  The perpetrator, Anders Breivik, the founder, leader, and only member of a terrorist secret society dubbed "The Knights Templar", launched a heavily armed assault against a youth camp run by the progressive Labour Party, killing 69 people, mostly adolescents, before surrendering to police.

As Norwegian journalist Seierstad (The Bookseller of Kabul) recounts, Breivik had passed through a number of enthusiasms - graffiti tagger, right-wing activist, entrepreneur,  Freemason, World of Warcraft guild leader.  His commitment to each had less to do with its specific nature than his ambition to be recognized as someone extraordinary, to somehow distinguish himself as better than average, worthy of respect - a cool kid, a leader, rich, an elite.  His constant search for a new identity was clearly reflected in a series of pseudonyms - Morg, Anders Behring, andersnordic, Andrew Berwick.  In each environment, he repeated the same pattern - initially friendly and even sycophantic, totally invested and eager for recognition, until his ambition led him to overstep his bounds and offend the very people whose favor he had sought.  This pattern held true in his final obsession, fighting the Islamicization of Europe, but tragically that failure did not lead to depression followed by a new obsession, but mass murder.

Seierstad not only follows Breivik on his path to the massacre, but several of the victims as well, denying the killer the satisfaction of reducing them to mere props in his story and making clear to the reader the human cost of the massacre.  This accentuates the book's central theme - not only was Breivik "one of us", his victims were "us", too, and the evil and the loss belong to all of us.

The Girl on the Train

 The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins   336 pages

Journalist-turned-fiction writer Paula Hawkins’s debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, has been out for approximately sixteen months and has yet to be issued as a paperback. That alone indicates how good the story is. It spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was the list’s most popular book in 2015.

As with all great reads, the story lies with the characters. But Hawkins has something else going for her: the format of the story.

Rachel’s days are the same. She gets up, gets ready for work, hops on the 8:04 commuter train to London, daydreams about the couple she often sees when the train slows down. The couple happens to live two doors down from the home she once shared with her ex-husband, Tom. At the end of the day, she repeats her steps and heads back to the flat that she shares with her friend Cathy. Rachel has a secret. In addition to the she carries, Rachel has a drinking problem, which is no secret. It began long before her marriage to Tom dissolved, but exacerbated significantly.

Her favorite pastime is daydreaming about the couple, whom she calls Jason and Jess. Her world is shattered when she sees “Jess” kissing another man as her train waits to move ahead. Rachel feels that only has “Jess” been betrayed, but she, too, has been deceived.

Rachel suffers from alcohol-induced blackouts. What happened last Saturday night is particularly blank. Meanwhile “Jess,” who is really Megan is missing. It seems she has disappeared without a trace. Her husband, Scott, or better known to Rachel as “Jason,” is a prime suspect. Rachel feels that she knows something, or at the very least saw something. If only she could remember.

To discuss the plot anymore would spoil it, and The Girl on the Train is too good of a read to mess it up for other readers.

Earlier, I mentioned the story’s format. It’s told in alternating point of view from Rachel, Megan, and as the story progresses, Anna, Tom’s new wife. Each chapter, or point-of-view shift, centers on different aspects of the day---morning, afternoon, or evening.

In the first few pages, I wasn’t sure that I would be sucked in; in fact I wondered what so many people were talking about. But the more I read, the deeper involved I felt. Much to Hawkins’ great skill, every time I thought I had the plot figured out, it twisted in another direction.

I give The Girl on the Train 6 out of 5 stars.